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U.S. NEWS Saturday 7 September 2019

Governor to take Tree of Life mezuzah to Holocaust memorials

By MARC LEVY
Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) —
When Pennsylvania Gov.
Tom Wolf visits Holocaust
memorials in Lithuania and
Poland, he will carry the
mezuzah that was on the
office door of Rabbi Jef-
frey Myers when a gunman
burst into Pittsburgh’s Tree
of Life synagogue last year
and killed 11 people.
Wolf said Friday that he
called Myers ahead of his
trip to the two countries,
told him he planned to
visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau
death camp memorial in
Poland and asked him how
he could honor the shoot-
ing victims.
At Myers’ suggestion, Wolf
said he will carry the ornate
mezuzah and sign the vic-
tims’ names in commemo-
ration books at the Paneriai
Holocaust Memorial, in
the forests outside Vilnius,
where many of the Lithu-
anian capital’s Jews were
executed, and at the Aus-
chwitz-Birkenau memorial. In this Wednesday, April 10, 2019 file photo, Gov. Tom Wolf listens as Pennsylvania lawmakers come together in an unusual joint
“What I’m hoping for is that session to commemorate the victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue attack that killed 11 people last year at the state Capitol in
this act will bring solace, Harrisburg, Pa.
some solace to the survi- Associated Press
vors, and will remind them about 600 Pennsylvania Pennsylvania’s military Lithuanian troops have also in Pittsburgh is seeking the
that we Pennsylvanians will National Guard troops de- partnership with Lithuania served alongside Pennsyl- death penalty against
never forget their loved ployed in the two coun- involves training and col- vania troops 13 times in de- 46-year-old Robert Bow-
ones,” Wolf said at a news ties, speak to the American laboration, said Anthony ployments to Afghanistan, ers in last year’s attack.
conference in his Capitol Chamber of Commerce in Carrelli, the Pennsylvania Carrelli said. Police have said Bowers
offices. Lithuania and meet with National Guard’s adjutant Another 560 Pennsylvania expressed hatred of Jews
Mezuzahs are cases that Lithuanian President Gita- general. troops are in Poland on a during and after what was
are typically several inches nas Nauseda. The relationship goes back year-long mission as part of the deadliest attack on
long that hold a scroll of He also has a full slate of 26 years to the end of the a NATO battlegroup, Car- Jews in U.S. history. Bowers
verses from the Torah and cultural exchange and Cold War, when the U.S. relli said. has pleaded not guilty and
are mounted by Jews in business development Department of Defense The U.S. attorney’s office awaits trial.q
their doorframes. Myers’ meetings, he said. sought to forge relation-
mezuzah is in two pieces, Wolf, a Democrat, said he ships with ex-Soviet satel-
snapped when police plans to pay his own air lites, Carrelli said.
swarming the synagogue travel and lodging costs, Pennsylvania troops rotate
broke down the door dur- and to travel with three there through the year, vis-
ing their rescue effort. aides. He leaves Sunday iting for two or three weeks,
During his trip, Wolf will visit and returns Thursday. he said.